Talk:Blake Belladonna/@comment-81.233.86.104-20161014155535/@comment-4010415-20161015012552
One issue that people take with bending race in live action adaptations is that there are so few PoC characters in fiction in comparison to the white characters as it is, and often, in the live action industry, white actors have an easier time getting hired for a wider variety of roles (PoC tend to end up typecast, though they do get their more normal-feeling roles). PoC actors, at the very least, should have at least some chance at getting hired to play a character who is the same race as them, but then skilled PoC actors get passed over for white actors instead. There was some controversy over the Pan movie, when a Native American actress went in to audition for the role of Tiger Lily (who is traditionally a Native American character, if not originally). She was allegedly told "We don't need a Native American actor," and they hired the palest whitest girl ever for the role instead. If this is true, then that's just messed up. It's one thing to say "We liked your performance, but hers (the white girl's) was much better and felt more suiting for the character." It's another to straightup say "Nah, we don't need a Native American actress for this Native American character." As for the fanart... I can actually see why people get so guarded over characters who are canonically not white, straight, and skinny getting depicted as such (people feeling bothered by Rose Quartz (Steven Universe) getting drawn as super skinny or Emerald (RWBY) being drawn as a white girl). They finally see a character who isn't the usual white-and-skinny, and then someone draws them as white-and-skinny. For some people, this act can kinda feel like "The character wasn't good enough until I drew them as white and skinny." I mean, why can't Rose Quartz be fat? What's wrong with drawing her that way? She's beautiful the way she is in the show. And I can see why people would rather race bend a canon character than make up a fan character for the series. A fan character just isn't the same as the canon character. What they're wanting is for there to be an important character within the canon who is a PoC, rather than all or most of the important characters being white or having a "white person" complexion. And yeah, I can see why the fandom chose Blake to be their race bent protagonist. Honestly, I don't mind black Blake, since I actually don't think she looks all that bad. Meanwhile, I... don't like white Emerald. Something just feels off about her design with white skin, to me. I really like how her canon skin tone and her mint hair go together, a lot. It's like how I like fanart of humanized Twilight Sparkle (MLP) as a black girl. Somehow, that skin tone goes pretty nicely with her indigo hair. Ah, and you thought people get up in arms about PoC characters getting depicted as white in fanart. Let me tell you, I don't bother to look at comments about human MLP character fanart. They're ponies. They don't have a canon human race. You can literally do whatever you want with them! But so often, people leave negative comments on human pony fanart where the character isn't white. For example, "Twilight shouldn't be black! She's smart!" Oh.. Okay.. So... you're saying that black people aren't smart? "Twilight should be Asian because she's a super smart nerd!" Oh.. Okay.. So... you're saying smart nerd = Asian? "Rarity can't be black! She's a white pony!" That's fur, dude. She has white fur. But there are white horses that have black skin. So, I dunno what to tell you. Personally, I like it better when the mane six get depicted as varying skin tones, rather than all white and skinny. Fanart that shows all six of them together as a bunch of white skinny girls looks so bland, to me. But if Twilight is black, Rarity is Asian, Applejack has a sweet tan and muscles from working in the orchard all day, Fluttershy is Indian, Pinkie Pie is a bit chubby, and Rainbow Dash... is whatever, then it makes for an interesting piece of art. That said, I do see how people are tired of American media having so many shows, movies, and games where the cast is majority white, thin/fit, and straight. It's... It's just bland. Though, I see why the RWBY characters are mostly thin and fit. They have to be, since they're running around fighting monsters (Port somehow has a belly anyway, but hey). Oh, and generally, a ton of the people who get up in arms about white-washing characters in fanart will also get up in arms about shaming white people for cosplaying PoC characters. You can control what skin tone you give your drawing, but you can't help that you were born white, and people would rather that white people and PoC both do not paint their skin to fit a cosplay, unless the character is a ridiculous color like purple (Twilight Sparkle, Amethyst).